Sustainable Design Project

How did the project “roll out?”What were your initial thoughts and feelings about the project? We had a plan to begin with where we were going to build a water wheel, but then we gave up. We all felt to lazy to do it. So it did not roll out well. I felt both good and eeehhh. My dad works with water back in California so I talked to him about it, and it was a much more complicated process to create energy with a water wheel than we thought. I’m not upset that we didn’t get done with the water wheel, and I am kind of proud of the work I did on the treehouse.

Field Trips and Guest Speakers.What learnings or questions did you come away with? Include a memorable moment from either the field trips, the guest speaker, or both.

At the Fort Lewis College field trip we visited this area with compost and garden. We learned that water bottles are bad for the environment, but I don’t know if they are actually bad because you can refill them and then recycle them. Based on what you’ve learned in this project, what is sustainable design in your own words?Stuff that can go on forever, it’s green! Environmentally friendly and can always be renewed.

Empathy--how did the interviews and observations you completed help you arrive at the needs and values that your group aimed to meet in the design?We wanted to help the school create electricity, bringing power to the school. Ideation--explain how you took advantage of the freedom to have tons of ideas to arrive at your prototype ideaWe all had separate ideas. Nik wanted to do a snack bar and I wanted to do a phone charging station that ran off solar, water, and wind. Then together we came up with clean drinking system which led to the water wheel. Prototyping-- clarify all of the tasks you specifically accomplished in the physical construction of your prototype and describe.We got to the point of drawing our designs, but the exhibition was as far as we got. Then we gave up on it. We shifted our focus to the treehouse and Nik and I dug holes for the building the treehouse. Then we gave up on doing that and worked on creating designs together in google sketchup for the buildings.What HOHAM or 21st century skill did you grow in the most during this project?I got better at working together in a group so I grew in collaboration.What HOHAM or 21st century skill did do you need to grow in to be the best PBL learner you can be?I need to get better at imagination. I don’t have a good imagination so I can’t think of project ideas. It also takes a really long time to think of ideas. When was a time when things got hard and you solved a problem in this project?We gave up on our water wheel and helped with a different group. When was a time when things got hard and you were unable to solve a problem in this project? One of my team members didn’t want to work with Nik and I any more and we couldn’t make him.

What did you think success would look like in this project when you started? What do you think success looks like for the project, now? A working water wheel down by the bus stop. A small wooden hut with a water wheel that gives the school energy.

What advice would you give to a student who was about to begin this project? I don’t know.

picture of Nikolas Blood at the treehouse

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